


Stockholmes

by KyeAbove



Series: Stockholmes AU [2]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Aggressive Romantic Comedy, Alternate Universe, Amnesia, Angst and Humor, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Conspiracy, Dark Comedy, Dark Crack, Drama, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Gender Non-Comforming Hakuba Saguru, Healing, Humor, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kuroba Touichi Lives, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Memes, Missing Persons, Murder, Non-Binary Kuroba Kaito, Nondescript Nudity, Not What It Looks Like, References to Illness, Serial Killers, Sexual Humor, Swearing, Tampon Knives, Trauma, Violence, Wine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:48:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24334615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove
Summary: Kaito’s life takes a turn for the worse years after taking down two criminal organizations. Taken hostage by a killer who seems to be far too familiar with him, he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that spans decades. One that leads to him becoming Kaitou KID once again, only this time fighting with the power of Pandora instead of against it. Saguru meanwhile has been fighting off his morals and his very perception of the world as a killer for hire. Even becoming what he once hunted for pure curiosity's sake, he'll still fight against those worse than him without a second doubt.But with a crisis of feelings and the animosity of the past causing them to lash out at each other in cruel and unusual ways, it's a long road before either is able to work with the other without strife.Chapters 1-5 edited and cleaned up as of July 3rd
Relationships: Hakuba Saguru & Hattori Heiji, Hakuba Saguru/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Hattori Heiji & Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan, Hattori Heiji & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Heiji Hattori/Nakomori Aoko, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Mouri Ran, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid & Nakamori Aoko
Series: Stockholmes AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802095
Comments: 26
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I plotted out this AU four years ago, and dug out the notes this week. All the chapters are planned out, although the total number of chapters may change if another chapter or so is needed for better pacing.

In hindsight, this was exactly how Kaito expected to die. Tied up and gagged in the back of the car, likely on his way to his own execution. It had crossed his mind many times. When he'd been the dashingly elusive phantom thief. But not now, after he'd put his past behind him.

He'd lived long enough to see his best friend married to the love of her life. He had a good career for someone his age. He had a three year old daughter who he dotted on. Even despite thinking he'd never be a parent. He was twenty two now, and loving the life he'd created and fought for. 

He expected to die when he was still a teenager. Forced to find and destroy his father’s killers. A goal he had expected to conclude by breaking the very gem they’d spent so long searching for. It went so much deeper than that.

Kaito didn’t want to die. 

He’d gotten out of his restraints as soon as he woke up from his chloroform created nap. But from keeping his eyes closed, and feeling the movement, he could tell the car was moving fast enough that he couldn't risk jumping out. He figured that becoming roadkill was much more painful than a bullet to the head. Less instant. Drawn out as he bled out on asphalt. Kaito was trying not to panic too much but most would find that hard to do in his situation. 

There was no way he was going to leave the world without some sort of fight, even in fear. Kaito kept his head down, and stayed curled in on himself. Kaito peeked open one eye slightly to look upon the driver. It was the same person who had ambushed him after he had dropped his daughter off with Akako. At least he hadn't changed hands while passed out. 

Kaito closed his eye again, and thought over all he knew. There were no sounds aside from the rush of driving and his kidnapper's music through the car radio. Were they away from the main roads, or was it late enough in the day to be less drivers? Kaito couldn't quite tell when he couldn't focus on the lighting. He had to be cautious of his movement and when he opened his eyes. He didn’t want the man to know he was hoping to be ready to escape as soon as the car slowed down. 

He did dare to shift slowly and grab the charm at the end of his tucked away necklace. It grew warm in his hands. He thought deeply  _ It’s okay. Things are fine.  _ And the necklace cooled slightly, but not enough to say she was okay with the situation. Pandora was just as distressed as he was, but he couldn’t let either himself or her show.

Kaito couldn’t destroy Pandora. The thought didn't even cross his mind now. He’d tried, when he finally found her, but now he did everything he could to keep her safe. Hidden in a locket, always on his person. To lose Pandora would be to lose all the effort that had cost several people their lives and wellbeing. He'd lose her too, and Kaito was tired of losing people. To him, Pandora had as much right to continue existing as his own daughter had.

She would outlive him, and he would pass on in some ditch, haunting a shallow grave. Kaito thought often of shallow graves. His detectives. His boyfriend, and his favourite rival, were both in their own graves, somewhere. Kaito always had hope that he would find their graves one day and be able to properly lay them to rest. He'd found his mother's grave after a year of searching, and he'd expected to dedicate his entire life to finding all the others. 

Kaito thought mournfully of his situation, and knew that there was a high chance that he was going to get to see his detectives again. Kaito felt a forlorn smile across his face. If anything, in all this, if he was seeing his final day, he'd be able to apologize sooner to his detectives for failing them.

Pandora wasn't ready to let him die, despite his half-acceptance of it. She urged him to think of any way out. To at least not keep playing half-dead. And Kaito knew she was right. 

He became hyper-aware that he’d been tossed in the back seat of the car and not the trunk, for whatever reason. That was to his advantage. He sat up, considering devious things.

If he was going to join his detectives, he wasn’t going to die a coward. Kaito stood up in the back of the car, carefully balancing as much as he could with traces of chloroform in his brain, and hung over the front passenger’s seat. He kept his breathing light and waited for his kidnapper to notice him. With his eyes now open and his mind becoming aware, he picked up on a few obvious details. It was an evening on a lonely road. He'd been knocked out or at least only half-awake for hours now.

When the kidnapper failed to notice Kaito was awake, too focused on the road ahead, Kaito took a huge, dramatic breath, and then proclaimed, “I think your taste in music is terrible," making a dismissive hand wave as he spoke. 

And was promptly flung forward over the seat and into the glass of the car’s front window. It shattered upon impact as he screamed in pain. His kidnapper had slammed on the brakes at his sudden words. Kaito fell off the window, and into the front passenger seat in bittered pain. He'd left a bloody mess on the window but no wounds that hadn’t instantly healed. Pandora made little panicked swirls in his mind as she finished healing him, and he struggled to comfort her. Especially now that his body was still in trace amounts of agony, and his kidnapper was yelling at him.

"What the fuck was that for?!” His kidnapper exclaimed, voice muffled through his scarf, but clearly miffed. Kaito could only see his kidnapper's eyes behind the half-moon glasses. An unnatural blue that was surely contact lenses, and his kidnapper looked enraged and worried. Kaito liked to imagine if his kidnapper hadn't come this way with a hat and scarf, he would be scowling. 

Turning to sit upright in the seat, Kaito crossed his arms. “Well, it does. Do you have snacks?” Kaito uncrossed himself and opened the car’s front compartment, and started digging around the many napkins in it, looking for food. His kidnapper reached for him, hissing. 

“Get your bloody hands out of there or I’m putting you in the trunk!” He sounded serious, or thought he was. Kaito couldn't be sure. 

Kaito wondered how far he could push him. He stuck out his tongue. “That’s no way to treat someone you kidnapped.” He grabbed some of the napkins and started wiping up the blood all over his body. It did little to help the mess. His eyes fell on the car door and he inched his hand forward, a little too late.

“Technically, it is. I was trying to be nice.” His kidnapper got the car moving again, foot pressing hard on the gas, and the tires squeaked from the sudden speed. Kaito was quick to put his seatbelt on despite wishing to leave the car, not wanting a reunion with the window. Even though Pandora could heal him, it still hurt. 

“I don’t want nice, I want out.” Kaito was going to play the annoying hostage card. In the hope either he’d have a quicker death with less time to worry, or his kidnapper would ditch him to get any peace of mind. 

“No." His kidnapper then muttered, "Now your stupid ass needs medical attention and I need a new car.” He sounded pained by the idea of considering it. 

That was not true. Well, the kidnapper would need a new car, but Kaito was indestructible. For maximum dramatic effort, Kaito puffed out his chest, happy he had chosen to wear a tube top under his jacket that day instead of his binder. He thought it made him look more muscular than he already really was. It was possible he could intimidate his kidnapper into letting him go. If that didn't work, there was always seduction.

"Noo, I’m fine. Rust in pieces to your car, but I’m different.” With his detectives on his mind, and his thoughts on death, he let slip “If I was killable, Snake would have gotten me long before he got Saguru.” 

They hadn’t ever found the body, but they hadn’t found many others too. The organization had a way of making people disappear forever, and there was no way Saguru had survived that fall. It made Kaito’s heart ache, but he kept up his maliciously teasing expression. He couldn’t show weakness in front of a man like this.

Kaito did notice a significant pause in his kidnapper, although thought little of it, until he finally spoke. “...well, it’s good that you’re unkillable, because I don’t want you dead. Are you sure you’re alright?”

That was news to him. Maybe this wasn't an execution kidnapping after all. Or the kidnapper was a huge liar.

“Yes, Sir. Now let me go.” Kaito demanded sweetly, putting a little more force into his words this time. 

His kidnapper shook his head while still keeping his eyes on the road. He slowed down ever so slightly, but not enough to justify Kaito attempting escape. “No, not until I get paid. Then you can do whatever you want.”

Kaito was shook by these words. 

“...paid?”

His kidnapper nodded, turning off into a side road and slowing down even further. “I was offered 10000 yen to grab you and hold you until my benefactor asks that I deliver you to him.” 

Kaito looked at him with a genuinely shocked expression.  _ No _ . There was no way. He was not that cheap in value. “And you didn’t ask for a higher reward? I’m really worth that little?”

“I know, right?” His kidnapper grumbled, clearly not happy with the price either. 

“I’m worth at least 1000000 yen!” Kaito was so busy fuming that he blanked out and missed when they stopped in a dirt driveway surrounded by forest. His kidnapper was quick to move out of the vehicle and to the other side. He opened the door, and unbuckled Kaito and moved him out, and then swung him over his shoulder.

“Nice ass.” Kaito half mocked, half complimented. 

“It’s not on the market.” His kidnapper replied coolly. Kaito removed his eyes from the nice view below and started looking for a gun or other weapon in his kidnapper’s possession. There appeared to be none. That was both a blessing and a curse.

“I want at least half of the money you’re getting to do this, Kidnapper-san!” Kaito chirped as they approached the door of the likely safehouse. Kaito thought of all the ways he could escape. But now he was filled with spite towards whoever paid for this to happen. Did they really think so little of him? 

He was worth far more than practically pocket change, and he knew it.


	2. Chapter 2

To Kaito's surprise and delight, his kidnapper took him right to the kitchen, and put him down at the table. If his kidnapper was planning to feed him, it wasn't the worst Kaito could have ended up with. 

Kidnapper-san started digging around in the bare cupboards. Kaito looked around at his surroundings. It seemed like a showroom house despite the out-of-the-way location. Neat and tidy and very unlived in. A house and not a home. A perfect place for a crime if Kidnapper-san planned one past holding him hostage. 

Kaito considered that he could make a run for it while Kidnapper-san's back was turned on him. But he had no idea where he was. While he was currently playing the part of a dumbass to get Kidnapper-san's guard down and annoy him, he wasn't actually one full time. He figured a house was at least somewhat safer than being stuck outdoors at night if he was far enough out of the city. So he stayed at the table, wondering if Kidnapper-san really was planning to give Kaito food after all. If there even was any. To his delight, Kidnapper-san found an unopened bag of chips.

"I'm always a slut for triangles." Kaito made grabbing motions for the bag, exaggerating his smile, and going for chaos in his words. 

Kidnapper-san turned around, and seemed mildly surprised to see Kaito still there, but not at his words, looking down through his glasses in a judging motion. He tossed the chips in Kaito's direction, and Kaito caught the bag. "There. Your snacks. Eat those while I get the water running in this place again. So you can wash up." Kidnapper-san made a vague gesture to Kaito's  _ everything.  _

Kaito looked down at his now blood stained clothes. His own blood. He pushed his opinions on that aside, in an effort to keep taunting unheeded."That would be nice. Not sure if I want to undress in front of a creep, as you can likely understand." Kaito opened the bag of chips, and started munching happily on then as he watched Kidnapper-san's budding reaction. 

Kidnapper-san made a squeaky grunt and seemed a bit stunned by the very thought. He put his hands over his ears and shook his head, and closed his eyes. "You don't have to keep snarking at me. I don't need to see you naked."

"Of course you do, Kidnapper-creep-san." Kaito said sweetly back. He hoped his kidnapper was even more annoyed with his existence now. He'd seemed upset by Kaito complimenting his ass, so maybe Kaito had found a beast to poke. He put a chip in his mouth but did not chew it, and continued talking as it melted in his mouth. "I bet you're creepy and sweaty under all that disguise. I think I actually know what this is about. This isn't a sale. You took me to have se-"

Kidnapper-san pulled out another bag of chips and threw it right at Kaito's face. Blinking away his surprise, Kaito saw Kidnapper-san's eyes gained a deep and scary coldness to their gaze. "Do not test me, Kuroba. And do not make assumptions like that." Kidnapper-san commanded with a snarl.

For the first time, Kaito felt a bit of genuine fear. Maybe taking this as a joke wasn't a good idea after all. It was all he had to work with until he knew more of what was going on, so he pushed aside his fear and persisted. "Geez, I was just trying to lighten the mood and all."

"It's not working."

Kidnapper-san walked off into a doorway, presumably to turn on the water. Leaving Kaito completely alone. He had been kidnapped by a possibly deranged person for literal pocket change in return. If that itself wasn't a lie. He had zero idea where he was. More of those pricks of fear started to consume him.

What was he going to do? Would he have a chance of escaping? And what of his life? Aoko would be a mess. She'd already lost her husband last year, and would now be alone with a new baby. Kaito had promised to be with her every step of the way, either until they were old and grey. Or until her husband was found and returned. Akako and Keiko would certainly help in their own ways, but they still had their own busy lives. Aoko's father still worked a lot even though Kaito was no longer KID.

KID could have easily figured a way out of this. Or at least how to die in style and dignity. But Kaito then had been a crazy teenager who thought he had nothing to lose. Now he had Aoko and her daughter. A daughter of his own, who was surely wondering why he hadn't made his usual call before Akako and Keiko put her to bed. Then all the other people who loved him and that he loved. He couldn't put them through losing another person. So he now knew he had to do everything in his power to survive.

Kaito felt up his pockets and all the little places he hid things, and found that Kidnapper-san had frisked everything. Frowning, he left the kitchen, and dared to leave the house. Luckily for him, the car was still unlocked, though the keys were not there to be able to drive away. A search of the trunk gave up a duffle bag, and in it, all his stuff. He closed the trunk and looked all around him, looking for any obvious landmarks even in the far distance. There was nothing but nature. It was the middle of nowhere and he was stuck.

Accepting there was no escape yet, Kaito went back into the house and to the kitchen. Kidnapper-san was still not back, so he started rummaging through the duffle bag. He was very surprised that Kidnapper-san knew where all his hiding places were. Kaito soon had magic tricks and personal items all over the table as he continued to eat the chips. Even opening the second bag after he munched through the first. This was what he had to work with. Either to defend himself or annoy his kidnapper into letting him go.

Kaito found his wallet, and was utterly offended that his debit card and credit cards were missing. Kidnapper-san would not be not stealing from him to make up for the pathetic payment he'd been offered! His phone was also missing from the bag. Kaito found that odd too. 

Kidnapper-san would have likely heard him leave the house and had not come running, and that now made sense.

That dirty sneak knew he'd go look for his stuff, so removed anything helpful! No phone, no money. It was looking even less ideal to run. Kaito flipped through the rest of his wallet, and found that his one other physical item in there was disturbed, but not removed.

Kaito pulled it out, looking for damage but with a sigh of relief, finding none. It was of Kaito's daughter, just a baby then. Aoko had gotten a gimmicky instant photo camera, and had thought the scene of her honorary niece asleep on Kaito's also sleeping boyfriend was a perfect scene. Kaito agreed, and always kept it on his person. He was glad it was still there. Saguru hadn't seemed to mind at all that Kaito had gotten messed up in Akako's witchy deals again. It had turned out that one of Saguru's weakness was babies, of all things.

It hurt to think of what could have been, but Kaito had learnt to be thankful for what he still had.

His daughter Kaori was a happy little girl now, but Saguru was lost.

Kaito was hailed as a hero for helping in the take down of the criminal syndicates that had weaved their dangerous webs in the world. Kaito wouldn't have made it that far without his loved ones.

Especially the ones that he lost. He'd loved and lost, and it was his biggest regret that he hadn't been able to stop Saguru from falling. 

He'd never even properly told Saguru that he loved him, and it was empty words now. 

Kaito was so caught up in his thoughts that he missed Kidnapper-san reentering the room. The man looked concerned to see Kaito near tears as he clutched a photograph. Kidnapper-san tapped Kaito on the shoulder. Kaito promptly jumped with a shriek into the air in surprise and landed in the space between ceiling and cupboard, clutching the photo close.

"Are you alright?" Kidnapper-san asked, and Kaito realized that Kidnapper-san was no longer wearing as much coverup. Instead, he was wearing his rose-tinted half-moon glasses still but with a less jarring shade of blue eyes. His hair, dyed blue, was rather curly and pulled into a messy loose bun. He'd also removed the long coat that Kaito hadn't paid much attention until it was gone, revealing a checkered blue dress had been underneath, 

"Oh, so that's why you covered up. Everyone would remember the blue haired guy grabbing someone off the street."

"Yes, and I repeat. Are you okay?" This time Kidnapper-san appeared to be trying the softer approach. 

Kaito wasn't. 

"Of course not. I've been kidnapped."

Kidnapper-san tried to be even softer. 

"You were staring at a photo looking sad."

Kaito thought over whether it'd be wise to mention the truth. Nobody could hurt Saguru now. With nothing left to lose of Saguru, Kaito started to monologue. 

"I was in love with a man once. He was blond, British, and had me begging for more. I wanted to tear his throat out at one point, sure, but we got over that, Kidnapper-san."

"Is that so..." 

"He came off as a jerk at first, but he was actually really cute when he stopped caring about his poker face. I never realized that he was putting up as much a front about himself as I was...."

Kidnapper-san looked sad at this, and pitched his gruff voice slightly.

"Kuroba…" After avoiding Kaito's direct gaze for the entire time, Kidnapper-san finally forced himself to initiate eye contact. 

It must have just been Kaito's imagination, but...

"Heh, you even sort of sound like him. Just a coincidence." Kaito insisted, not even considering any implications before pushing it aside. 

Kidnapper-san rubbed his blue hair and hoped that Kaito would notice the blond roots among it. He really thought they stood out, but Kaito was lost in thought. Dark thoughts and memories started to swarm in his mind, and he wanted to shut them out. 

_ Saguru raced to push Snake away when he'd pulled out a gun on Kaito, getting close to the edge... _

"Well, actually I'm sorry to say I'm Sag-"

_ Falling. _

Kaito cut off Kidnapper-san. "Actually I don't think I want to talk about him anymore. Too many bad thoughts, you know?"

Kidnapper-san's shoulders sagged, and he sighed. "If you insist. Will you come down soon? I have the water going and the hot water tank is working and you are covered in blood. I'd prefer if you showered."

"I feel safer up here than I have all day." It was very dusty but Kaito could learn to live with that. 

Hot water did sound nice though. So Kaito climbed down and tucked the photo back into his wallet.

Kidnapper-san pointed in the direction for Kaito to go. "Up the stairs, the second door on the left is where the bathroom is. I promise I won't peek in." Kidnapper-san promised.

Kaito gave him a look, but decided that at least for that he could hope to trust this man. So, keeping in mind to himself there was possibly a greater villain above all this, he left the kitchen to wash up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a shift to some context for Saguru.

Saguru was so tired. He’d spent the last years pretending nothing of what happened between him and Kuroba happened, hell, that he even ever knew the man. Now he’d been forced to grab him off the street. 

Worst job yet, in his opinion, and he’d been put in a lot of uncomfortable situations in this line of work. Intimacy with strangers, lying, cheating, and so much unjustifiable murder. Somehow seeing his ex-boyfriend felt worse than all that. 

But it was all for the money, he told himself. The money he was being paid for this wasn’t entirely a lie. The rest of the money was going somewhere much more important than himself. He was allowing himself the 10000 he told Kuroba of only because he was running low on spending cash. There was an issue with his watch.

He grabbed the chain around his neck and opened the clock at the end. Still stopped. He’d traded out pocket watches for a necklace with a timepiece and it had been still for weeks. It was making him anxious and he’d had his hopes on getting it repaired. When he completed this mission and forgot he ever saw Kuroba again, he’d have his money. 

That is, if he had any left after replacing his front window. He didn’t have much faith in that. He glanced out of the window at the car. He’d have to call his buyer and request a ride to the meet-up place, because there was no way they were making it there unnoticed by concerned citizens and suspicious police with a Kuroba-shaped crack in the window.

Saguru did find that extremely odd. That Kuroba would obviously get dangerously hurt but would heal just as soon. But he’d known Kuroba long enough before to accept it. Either Kuroba grew even luckier than he’d been before, or he’d made another deal with Koizumi. Or he’d always been as unkillable as he claimed to be. It was something to question, and investigate, but not something to worry over.

He wasn’t going to worry over Kuroba at all. The other man was clearly having the time of his life messing with him. It was probably for the best that Kuroba hadn’t recognized him. All that talk of being in love with him was clearly a shame too, as Kuroba never talked about him like that before. After this was over they’d go back to never seeing each other again, and that would be for the best.

Despite that, Saguru wouldn’t deny that he was a bit nostalgic. The last time he’d seen Kaito this up close, he’d been pushing him out of the way of a gun right before falling off a roof. Now his former beau was successful, and if the pictures on his phone were any clue, happy as could be. Peeking through Kuroba’s phone however briefly was most likely a low move, but Saguru felt happy that he’d been able to guess the password even after these years had put them apart. 

Now all that was left of their past was a photograph in a wallet and their own memories. Even Saguru was unsure if he held the same memories Kuroba did. Saguru had been in love, but what lies was Kuroba feeding himself?

He had disconnected the phone service. Since it was now just a glorified tablet and there was no wifi anywhere in the area, he placed Kuroba's phone on the table where Kuroba had left all his other possessions. Kaito would need the distraction during the car ride, and Saguru didn’t carry around enough to provide that. 

Saguru heard the shower turn on, and there was a bit of creaking that came from someone getting in. Saguru felt some relief that Kuroba hadn’t snuck out the window yet. He was fully expecting at every turn that Kuroba would slip away, but he always stayed. Hadn’t that been how it was when the world was perfect? When everything made sense. Before Saguru had other people’s deaths on his conscience. 

Even if he wasn’t already betraying Kuroba once more, Saguru wouldn’t have deserved him back. Everything was too tainted now. It had been since his hands and face had first been splattered by blood, scattered by his own trigger finger. 

The worst part? He enjoyed it. While he didn’t enjoy Kuroba’s smugness, he certainly enjoyed the thrill of a crime. It was so much easier to consider crime when he didn’t have to solve it. It was easy to cover up a murder when he knew every trick. 

His policy was to claim nothing and let no crime slip away. To tell nothing that wasn’t relevant. He broke policy sometimes, was doing so much of that today, but most things known about him in this world were rumors. Most were unfounded, but some... 

Wait a damn minute. 

That made Saguru ponder a strong possibility. That his buyer had chosen him of all people to retrieve Kuroba, even though he must have known Saguru could easily screw this up, simply because of the particular blood that had tainted him and was purposely trying to upset him. Not that Saguru would ever admit to the man who was in the shallow grave of his first major crime, but he imagined his buyer was still upset about the whole mess. 

No matter what though, the buyer knew of his and Kuroba's history and this was an intended kick in the balls. 

"If I were a bastard like him, what would be my next move… ah." Saguru could guess exactly what the buyer would taunt Kuroba with, and that was unfair. Mostly to Kuroba and especially to _that boy_ who never did wrong in his entire life. "Well that just won't do." 

New plan then. Not that he'd let Kuroba in on said plan just yet. Kuroba would just mess things up. That was just a given of his personality. Kuroba didn’t know when to stop, and not when to give up. 

He hadn’t even given up on Saguru all those years ago. When Baaya had gotten sick, and Saguru had completely lost himself trying to care for her when he couldn’t even properly care for himself at that age. 

Kuroba had helped him, and expected nothing more from him than he could give. Even when he’d brought that baby home, he’d told Saguru he had no expectations that he had to be a part of baby Kaori’s life. But he’d wanted to be. Even now, not being there for her was among his many regrets.

Kaori was in most of the photos on the phone, already three years old. Looking just like a mini Kuroba, although that was to be expected. Thinking of her, and thinking of where she might end up if Kuroba never came home… 

“What sort of monster have I become?” Saguru asked himself, as he grabbed his own phone from his pocket. He typed in the number he’d been given. As he waited for someone to pick up on the other end, he had no sort of answer to that question.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a slight focus on blood in the first bit of this chapter, if that's something that makes anyone here uncomfortable. Nothing too descriptive but the theme is there.

The water felt wonderful on Kaito’s body. It smelled a little bit off but Kaito would have much rather bathed in dish water if he had to, just to get rid of the blood. It wasn’t a trigger, per say, but whiffs of the stuff always made him a bit uncomfortable. 

He’d seen a lot of it. From himself and others, and he’d seen enough for a lifetime and then some. He watched as the watered down blood slipped down the drain as he used cheap travellers sized bath products on his lovely skin and hair. He would have to insist on picking up some better quality shampoo if he was going to be a captive long.

When he got a strong smell of blood as it washed off his shoulder he grimaced. He got a flicker of worry from Pandora. She had been oddly silent for some time but now she seemed to feel safe enough, sitting away from the water, on the bathroom sink and still within his view, to speak her mind. 

“I’m okay...aside from being kidnapped you know.” Kaito thought upon his kidnapper. “There is...something about him, Pan-chan. But I just can’t put my mind on it.” Her response, not really words, just feelings, danced around his mind. Kaito didn't have an answer for Pandora's mysteries and neither had Akako either. "No, I'm not an idiot. Why do you ask?"

Pandora had learnt how to convey laughter recently enough. She was now laughing very loudly in his mind. Kaito tutted, but continued washing himself up. After twenty minutes, he deemed himself clean as he could get and stepped out of the shower. 

He noticed then that while he had fresh towels neatly laid on the counter, all his outer clothing was covered in blood, and his boxers and tube top only covered so much. Kaito smirked. More ways to make his captor uncomfortable, just handed to him on a silver platter. Kaito dried himself off and then wrapped a towel around his waist. There was a knock on the door.

"Are you decent?" Kaito heard his kidnapper call through the door. He was using that weird higher pitched voice again. It was a bit uneasy hearing it, since it just sounded too much like _him._ Kaito wondered if his captive had done research into him and found out about Saguru before Kaito told him, and was now using his voice to taunt him. How cruel!

"Yes. I can drop the towel if you want." Kaito went into 'Annoy Kidnapper-san' mode right away and went to the door and opened it up a crack. Kidnapper-san was standing there with an awkward blush on his face even though Kaito kept the towel up. His eyes went briefly downwards before flicking back up, and his blush deepened. 

"No, please don't." Kidnapper-san put a bag in front of Kaito. "I forgot to give you clothes." 

"Is it lingerie?" 

Kidnapper-san blushed somehow deeper. "No, it's just the basics. T-shirt and jeans. No need to make a big deal out of it." Kaito loved the tone in Kidnapper-san's words. Something like disappointment and embarrassment, two sweet emotions to make him feel. 

"Is there a rush to get dressed?"

"Yes. The man who hired me to take you is sending a car to get us."

Kaito snatched up the bag and closed the door in Kidnapper-san's face with a gleeful smile. Now he'd get to meet the man who he could reasonably yell at for all this. Kaito slipped on the clothes with ease and then picked up Pandora's necklace, realizing an issue. Whispering an apology, he stuffed her in his pocket. She grumbled in his mind, but understood. 

She was already seen by Kidnapper-san, so there was no use in hiding her from him. He didn't seem to think she was anything more than a basic necklace, so she was safe in that regard. But Kaito could take no chances. Even if the man wasn't one of them, there were a few members of each organization that had escaped capture, and this T-shirt was more of a v-neck and tucking the charm under it was harder. 

Pandora asked if there was any danger, and Kaito couldn't give her an answer. 

As soon as Kaito exited the bathroom, he was scooped up. "Hey!" 

Kidnapper-san held him close, having regained his composure. "I can't have you rushing off when the car gets here and trying to hijack it and take off. So I am going to carry you." Kidnapper-san stated plainly, as if this wasn't an awkward position for Kaito. The idea hadn't even occurred to him. Still, he could use this. 

"Curses, you've figured out my dastardly plan. Damn you." Kaito maneuvered so that Kidnapper-san's hold was less painful and then asked "When should the car be here?"

"Quicker than it will be to get there. He had a car and a contact nearby." Just as Kidnapper-san finished his sentence, they both jolted and twitched at the sound of a car horn. Both bothered by the sudden sound, and in a rare moment of understanding, they shared equal fear. "And that would be our ride."

"Yippee." Kaito said blandly, trying to continue to seem indifferent.

"Now Kaito, I can see your fist twitching. You're excited to meet this man and so is your fist." Kaito would have openly agreed if not for Kidnapper-san's use of his first name. Not many people had that permission anymore. 

"I never gave you permission to call me Kaito." 

"Are you sure?" Kidnapper-san taunted, rather cryptically. He carried Kaito awkwardly down the stairs and out the front door while Kaito got fixated on the question. 

Had he given Kidnapper-san permission at some point in their bickering and had just forgotten? Or…

Kaito went through all the criminals known to have escaped during the take down, trying to picture any of them with blue hair. But a lot of faces were blurry in his memory. And even then he'd only given one member fully willing permission to call him Kaito. There was too much height difference for this to be that man. 

But Kidnapper-san being a previous criminal he'd encountered was his strongest lead. Unless he was messing with Kaito and they'd never met before at all. Kaito grumbled over that possibility as he was put into the back seat of the car and Kidnapper-san climbed in after, settling down beside him. Kidnapper-san reached down and started massaging one of his legs, hissing in pain. Kaito’s gaze lingered, and Kidnapper-san looked up and glared at him.

"Seat belt, Kuroba." Back to calling him Kuroba then. Could have been a slip up before that he used to make things more confusing. Kaito didn't like the mystery. "We don't want you destroying this car too."

Glaring back at Kidnapper-san, Kaito kept eye contact as he clicked in the seat belt. Doing the same, but quickly growing uneasy with the eye contact, Kidnapper-san turned his attention to the driver. 

“Drive. We’re ready to go.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Huge Warning. This chapter contains slight details into a past attempted rape. It's not heavily detailed but it's there and still is worth the warning. 
> 
> As well, this is where the Awkwardness tag on this story really earns it's keep. Make sure to read the one-shot prequel [Blue Bells](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24857173) after reading this chapter since it provides more context for one oddly placed scene here. You'll know it when you read it, since it's also tagged.

Saguru didn't like cars. He never had, taking until he'd turned twenty to finally pass any sort of test. But he’d grown an even greater loathing for them in the last years. He had finally learnt, but he still hated being in a car. 

Being the driver was mostly fine, but the passenger seats always gave him bad feelings and memories. _Leg certainly broken, hateful words. Words. Lies. She was wrong but it was so hard to ignore..._

He simply tried to continue looking aloof, so as not to let Kuroba know he was breaking. Kuroba seemed disinterested anyways in anything but cooking up some bastardly scheme for when the ride was over. Saguru could see it in his eyes. Saguru was well able to admit if asked that he would heavily enjoy seeing the buyer get his smug face punched in.

Saguru looked away, and looked out the window, trying to imagine he was anywhere but here. He hadn't even thought of the dangers of the back seat before the incident , but ever since he'd had to run from one, jumper missing the top buttons and his jeans slightly torn at the zipper, grabbing that pointed gun from her grasp, and...

That...that satisfaction. Knowing that something that he knew was evil could no longer be evil was delightful. Yet it had been mixed with the knowledge that he couldn't just go back home like nothing had ever happened. He'd just killed someone. So he'd stayed among the underworld.

Being near Kuroba again also brought back those memories. Saguru knew for all of Kuroba's vague threats and aggressive flirting, Kuroba wouldn't try to hurt him like that. There would be few things that could flip Kaito into a monster and Saguru didn't dare to ponder what those could be. 

When Kaito started tapping his foot against the front passenger seat and humming, Saguru knew it was time to give Kaito his phone. 

Saguru leaned down to his feet and pulled up Kaito's bag of things, which he'd collected and brought with them, while also grabbing his own, much smaller, personal bag. He plopped Kaito's bag down onto his lap and then went digging through his own. 

To think just yesterday he was enjoying a bottle of wine with his friends, talking with Betty. His hands landed on the hidden weapons she'd given to him in confidence. Saguru grinned deviously. Kaito wanted to act like a dumbass? Saguru could certainly omit certain truths in return.

“Oh, good that you remembered my stuff! I forgot.” Kaito mused, and was heavily thankful that Saguru was far less scatterbrained than him. He dug through his stuff, and then felt a tap on his shoulder. “What is it, Kidnapper-san?”

For what Saguru was holding, one would have expected him to be embarrassed. Yet he was more than confident offering them up, unlike many others in the world. Kaito himself gained an embarrassed blush, mostly out of shock of what he was seeing. Saguru knew they were knives within deceiving packaging, but Kaito wouldn't. 

"Do you need extra monthly toiletries? I usually carry around some for a few of my friends but I have a feeling I might not see them for awhile." Saguru held up the wrapped packages further and spread them out like a hand of cards, and enjoyed how Kaito's own face went red. Revenge. 

Kaito could barely believe the offer. "How do you know about that?!"

"Aside from the fact that I've known from even before I kidnapped you? You opened the bathroom door with the towel below your waist." Saguru stated matter-of-factly, wiggling his finger in Kaito's face.

Kaito looked down, realizing finally what he had done, and then rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, right...you're not a jerk about this sort of thing, are you?"

"No. I had no ability to ever garner such thoughts even as a child. Although my family certainly tried to instill them. My brother Falcon is a lot like you, and it was simply something I grew up not questioning." 

"Well, good then…" Kaito tried to regain his composure, but failed. To save some face, he took the packages and shoved them deep into his bag. “And no, I didn’t have my daughter...like that…” Kaito blushed another shade deeper. Many people before and many certainly after would assume. “She’s magic made, if you’ll believe that.”

Saguru nodded. “I would. I am well aware of magic, Kaito.”

And there was that calling him Kaito thing again, Kaito noticed. Kaito couldn’t even find the will to care this time. Saguru had temporarily stunned the fight out of him. Kaito could predict calculation, and he could predict chaos, but calculated chaos was a strategy he hadn't expected from his kidnapper.

“Are you now?” This added to the growing theory Kaito was garnering that he knew this man from somewhere. Maybe he had been at one of Akako’s witch gatherings that Kaito had gotten roped into attending. There weren’t many male witches in the world, so that would narrow it down. 

“Yes.” Saguru shut up after that, realizing he was giving away too much. He leaned forward. “Driver, how much longer until we reach the boss’s place?”

“About forty more minutes!” The driver cheerfully replied, and any further bickering the former couple could have had was killed by the voice. The familiar voice. 

No. There was no way. Both Kaito and Saguru leaned out of their seats fully and for the first time since getting into the car, actually took a good look at their driver.

“Hattori Heiji?!” Kaito and Saguru cried out together, and Kaito was so caught up in trying to smack Heiji that he didn’t even process Saguru’s reaction. 

“Huh?” The at least Hattori look-alike asked, slowing the car and giving Kaito slight side eye. “Who’s dat?”

Kaito felt so much rage. Aoko was home alone with a baby, wondering where her husband had disappeared to after a case gone wrong, and here he was, driving for a criminal like it was nothing. “You!” 

The driver looked confused and then shook his head. “You have the wrong guy. I’m Number 14 of the Holmes Project, designated Hudson.” He sounded proud of himself, as he went back to looking at the road and sped up.

“Holmes Project? Hudson? No, you’re Hattori Heiji, and you sir have a lot of explaining to do!” Kaito tried to leap from his seat, forgetting he was buckled in, and had the wind knocked out of him as the seat belt pulled him back. He gasped for air and squirmed. “There’s no way...you’re not. Let me check...for your...scar.” Kaito got out between breaths. 

Saguru gave him a look of pity. There were several theories, including look-a-likes that could explain this. He didn’t want to think about them. He had a far more pressing matter on his hands. 

“Holmes Project? It's always nice to see a fellow servant to the system. I was number 36, designated Sheridan.” Saguru introduced the name he hadn’t had to use since he was a young teenager and he’d ran away from all this nonsense. But if it got him the information he wanted, there were no paths he would not cross. 

Hudson let out a joyful laugh. “One of the S’s. I have a friend in the project. Number 42, Sherlock.” 

“Impressive of him to earn such a name.”

Kaito looked back and forth between Saguru and Hudson, trying to figure out anything of what could possibly be happening. “What is the Holmes project?”

Saguru tried to search for the words to describe it, before Hudson made shushing sounds. 

“Is he in the project? Or had previous clearance to be told of our super secret stuff.”

“No. He does not match.”

“Then keep quiet.” 

_“Fine.”_

Kaito pouted. If they weren’t going to tell him, he’d just have to do his own research. He pulled out his phone, intending to go through the internet and Interpol and similar areas looking for information, but found nothing worked. After five minutes of fiddling, Kaito was forced to admit to himself that his data was shut off in a way he could not fix. He glared at Saguru, who shot him a smirk. 

“You’re a bastard.”

Saguru stuck out his tongue childishly. “I know.” 

Kaito stuck out his own tongue, and knew the next thirty-five minutes of the drive would be hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now the title of this story becomes relevant.


End file.
